1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to artillery systems and, more particularly to a system for automatically feeding primer cartridges in an artillery piece.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Present field artillery pieces operate by detonating a propellant charge behind a projectile in a gun barrel. Typically the propellant charge is detonated by means of a primer cartridge that, in turn, is detonated under the force of an externally applied blow or electrical current. A fresh (unfired) primer cartridge must be used for each firing of the artillery piece.
The technical advancement of heavy armored/mechanized weapons and the necessity of providing responsive, effective fires throughout the supported commander's area of influence has created a need for enhanced rate of fire and reduced labor intensiveness of the crew. Presently, for large caliber artillery pieces with interrupted screw block breech mechanisms such as 155-mm artillery pieces and the like, percussion primers are loaded by hand and various types of automatic feed mechanisms. One primer is typically manually placed in the spindle primer chamber and the firing mechanism is thereafter manually moved over the primer in the ready-to-fire position. This has lead naturally to human errors, injury and problems inserting the primer, especially when the light is dim. Lack of space and/or coordination are additional artillery piece problems associated with hand loading.
Until the present invention, there has not been effective fail-safe alternatives to manual loading of primers. There is need for a primer feed mechanism that automatically feeds live primers and ejects spent primer cases in large caliber artillery pieces (for example a 155-mm gun). Although one known automatic-type primer feed mechanism is taught in U.S. Statutory Invention Registration H-1121 by Carroll et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference, there are problems inherent with this mechanism that include potential accidental misfiring of a primer cartridge before proper closing of the breech, which in turn may result in accidental human casualty. Thus there is still need for a safe and efficient system for loading primer cartridges in the breech of a gun, which the present invention resolves.